


Hold The Mirror Up To Nature

by RiddlePanda



Series: Mirrored Surfaces [3]
Category: South Park
Genre: Evil! Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-02-18
Packaged: 2019-03-21 00:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13729215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiddlePanda/pseuds/RiddlePanda
Summary: It had been a while since Clyde had a good long cry. Bawling, sobbing, whatever you wanted to call it. It had been a while. There had to be a very very good reason for it now.Waking up to find a doppelganger of yourself grinning menacingly above you counted as a very very good reason.





	Hold The Mirror Up To Nature

Clyde Donovan was by no means a main character in his small town of South Park, Colorado. Unless he was roped in on some plan of one of “them” or it was something majorly life changing for him, he resolved to make sure his life was just normal school and everyday life fodder. He had his dad, his friends, and whatever girl we was dating at the time (usually Bebe).

He wasn’t by any means smart like Kyle or Wendy, but got along okay in school (except for Math, damn his dyscalculia), happily proud that he managed to keep a high grade in the one advanced class he had, English. The teen loved to read, be it fantasy or fiction, ever since he was in elementary. It helped him keep up with Craig’s space and guinea pig tangents, Tweek’s “insane” ramblings that turned out to be true ninety nine percent of the time, Jimmy’s unfortunate stutter when he tried talking for a longer period than he was used to, and gave him and Token some sort of common ground since he could decipher the bigger words Token sometimes threw in conversations.

His love for reading and creating complex stories and backgrounds, along with the craziness that was South Park and all the adventures he had been dragged in, gave Clyde a pretty hard shell of giving a fuck as the years went on. Sure he still cried sometimes like he did constantly in elementary, but those times were few and far between in his teen years (besides freaking out and crying at horror movies while Tweek laughed his ass off which totally didn’t count and the Romcoms Bebe would drag him to that **_REALLY_** didn’t count).

It had been a while since Clyde had a good long cry. Bawling, sobbing, whatever you wanted to call it. It had been a while. There had to be a very very good reason for it now.

Waking up to find a doppelganger of yourself grinning menacingly above you counted as a very very good reason.

Clyde screamed. Clyde screamed and punched upward, forcing the other him to stumble back while the brunette scrambled out of bed, clad only in the pastel pink kitten boxer shorts Jimmy had given him as a “joke” (they weren’t) and proceeded to run out of his house gut wrenchingly bawling his eyes out as he dashed toward Tweek’s house.

It was the weekend Craig spent at Tweek’s house and both of them had experience with crazy doppelgangers just appearing ever since the Evil! versions of the two had frequently visited since their first appearance nearly two months ago. The other Craig and Tweek were decent as far as evil people went, but he knew his own evil self wasn’t well talked about by the two.

Clyde hoped either of the Tweeks or Craigs would be able to help. Or at least get some sort of pastry out of going to Tweek’s so early in the morning. He was starving and scared.

—————————–

His left eye throbbed and inwardly, Clyde was proud that his good counterpart had a mean right hook. Especially when said teen had been screaming his head off and not looking where he was aiming. Still…his left eye _**THROBBED**_ and it pissed him off. He didn’t think he’d be screamed and cried at so early in the morning. He really should have expected it though.

That was the only thing that convinced him to take a moment to grab a change of clothes and a jacket for his dumb doppelganger, who had ran out in only an identical pair of pastel pink kitten boxers Jimmy had gotten him in his attempt of a “joke”. (Jimmy really _**REALLY**_ wasn’t funny at _**ALL**_. He just needed to stick to motivational speeches he was known for.)

His Tweek opened the door when he knocked, glaring at him, before smirking upon noticing the darkening of his eye. “You deserved it for scaring him like that jerk.”

Clyde rolled his eyes as best he could, wincing at the sharp pain his left eye gave. “I brought him clothes if that’s any consolation.”

Tweek stepped back, letting Clyde come in the living room. He immediately noticed his Craig and the other Tweek comforting his blanketed counterpart on the couch, sandwiched between the two, the brunette sniffing as he ate a muffin. There was a plate of empty wrappers on the coffee table.

The Craig that wasn’t from his world was leaning against the stair banister, glaring at him before flipping him off. “You’re lucky we already had muffins ready. Clyde comfort eats when he’s scared or sad. Asshole.”

Clyde threw the bag of clothes at his counterpart before throwing up his hands. “Why the hell am I the bad guy in this!?”

His Craig rolled his eyes. “Oh, probably because **_WE’RE_** from an evil opposite world! And you looked like you wanted to murder Clyde.”

“I did not!”

“Then why the fuck were you standing above him with that evil smile you do?!”

“That’s just my normal smile! And I didn’t do anything! He’s the one that punched _**ME**_!”

“Why are you-”

“ ** _STOP!_** ”

The room fell silent as the good Clyde stood up, Clyde noticing he was wearing green plaid pajamas most likely belonging to one of the Tweeks. The teen stormed off to the kitchen, coming back with a muffin and an ice pack. He slapped the ice pack on Clyde’s puffy eye and put the muffin in his hand before wrapping his arms around him.

“I’m sorry for punching you and I forgive you for scaring the shit out of me.”

Clyde stood there in shock as his good self hugged him, before awkwardly giving him a one armed hug back, holding the ice pack on his eye with the other hand.

—————————-

“So let me get this straight…you want me to do your English work?”

The evil him nodded as he began pulling out his English textbooks on Clyde’s bed. “I’m assuming you’re good at reading, right?”

Clyde nodded. “Yeah, AP English is the only class I really excel at. But…your Tweek and Craig say you’re like the smartest kid in school. Why would you need _**MY**_ help? I’m shit at-”

“I’m dyslexic.”

“Oh.”

The evil Clyde grumbled as he shoved a book at Clyde. “I usually do my work on the computer with spellchecker to rearrange the words I misspell. I read okay, but it takes me forever to read and I usually just buy the audio book to listen to it since it’s easier. But for some reason, this damn book we got assigned doesn’t have one that isn’t a horrible abridged version. And I’m _**NOT**_ going to let anyone I know find out about this, so asking one of my friends is out of the question.”

“So…what do you want me to help you with…um me?”

The doppelganger smiled. “Read to me? I think…if I can comprehend myself reading it in my voice, I might understand the material better.”

Clyde looked down at the book in his hands and groaned. “Dude, you _**SO**_ owe me. Like big time. This is Hamlet. Shakespeare’s longest. This is gonna take work and time. How long do you have?”

“It’s actually the entire six weeks for the grading period since it’s so massive in terms of Shakespearean symbolism.”

Clyde nodded and grabbed the fresh notebook his evil counterpart pulled out. “Alright, we need a game plan then. And some supplement material. _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead_ is a must even if it _**IS**_ a comedy mainly. A movie adaption of Hamlet would be a good idea. I’ve got two in mind for us to watch. Be warned, one’s pretty long.”

“You sound like you know your stuff.”

Clyde smiled softly. “It’s funny that it’s the only thing that comes natural to me. I may be shit at everything else, but I excel at the written word. I can weave an interesting story, it’s how I got everyone to come to my side when we played this stupid fantasy game in elementary.”

“Let me guess…Nazi Zombies? Only I used what people thought was McDonald’s Schezuan sauce.”

“Green Sauce from Taco Bell.”

The evil Clyde nodded. “So, any subject _**YOU**_ need help with? It’s only fair.”

“Math. Anything with math. I’ve got dyscalculia.”

————————————–

“Are you sure I’m not taking up a lot of your time? I mean, you’ve got to be one of the more popular kids in school to be spending every day in another universe reading Hamlet of all things. Chicks must flock to you.”

Clyde laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I mainly spend my time studying or hanging out with my small group of friends. And I’m Ace so I’m not huge on the whole “sex” thing.”

His good counterpart chuckled beside him. “I guess that’s why you’ve turned down all my offers to borrow my porn. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. It’s-”

A large muffled thump sounded above them and the Clydes turned to each other, eyes wide.

“That…That came from my room.”

They heard a door open and Clyde stood up, pushing the good Clyde behind him, as he glared at the staircase.

“Clyde Markus Donovan!”

Both teens froze, Clyde hearing the good Clyde start whimpering, no doubt starting to tear up. Footsteps drew closer to the staircase and Clyde let out a breath as he stared into the angry eyes of Betsy Donovan.

“Clyde! Is _**THIS**_ where you’ve been going to every day?! Wherever this is?! Your friends can’t lie for you anymore! You’re in-”

The broken sobbing of his good counterpart stopped the woman from saying anything further and Clyde saw her face soften before coming down the rest of the stairs, walking up to them at the dining room table, and pulling the sobbing boy into a tight hug.

“I-I’m soooorrrry! I’m sorry mom!”

His mom looked at him in confusion and Clyde looked away for a moment, before staring back at her. “His mom is dead in this universe, just like-”

“Clyde! I’m home! Decided to close the shop early tonight. I-”

The three turned to stare at the front door as Roger Donovan stared right back, his keys and jacket on the floor from where he dropped them.

Clyde’s breath caught in his throat upon seeing the man. He knew that the good Clyde’s dad was alive, unlike his own who had died from an unfortunate toilet accident like the good Clyde’s mom had, but hadn’t seen the man until now. He felt like crying like his good counterpart was doing.

“B-Betsy?”

“Roger?”

Clyde wrapped his arms around himself. “W-We can explain.”

——————————

“That…went better than expected.”

Clyde nodded before tearing into the slice of pizza he was holding. “Would this be a Lottie and Lisa scenario? We’re not actually brothers.”

Clyde noticed his evil counterpart’s confusion. “Uh, _Das doppelte Lottchen_. That’s the original title of The Parent Trap. You know, the identical sisters meet at summer camp, find out they’re sisters and their parents divorced. Switch places and get them back together.”

“Yeah, but in each universe, one of them is dead. They can’t just say, “Oh my bad! My spouse wasn’t dead!” It can’t work.”

“It’s South Park! People come back from the dead all the time! Like Kenny!”

The evil Clyde rolled his eyes. “Kenny…both of them…is a different story from this.”

“They’re happy.”

“True. And they said they wouldn’t ground us if they were allowed to see each other.”

“Actual mom cooked food instead of take-out or instant. I miss her lemon bars.”

“Neither of them would have to work as hard…especially once we graduate and the house is empty and one of them could easily just close shop and move to the other universe.”

The two Clydes looked at each other and grinned and Clyde slammed his hand on the book beside him. “So…brother, wanna get back to Hamlet? You’ve only got another two weeks.”

“I don’t know how you’re not phased, but I’m not going to read Hamlet while our parents are fucking upstairs. Too much distraction.”

“We could…uh…go to Stark’s Pond and throw rocks at shit?”

“Now _**THAT’S**_ a plan.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have this headcanon that Clyde's really good at reading and English. He's well versed in story and creates intricate backstories for the characters he makes and plays. He was also in the Spelling Bee Finals. He's not good at math, so he may have dyscalculia.  
> \--------------------------------
> 
> Hamlet:  
> Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this  
> special observance, that you o'erstep not the modesty of nature:  
> for any thing so o'erdone is from the purpose of playing, whose  
> end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold as 'twere the  
> mirror up to nature: to show virtue her feature, scorn her own  
> image, and the very age and body of the time his form and  
> pressure. 
> 
> Hamlet Act 3, scene 2, 17–24
> 
> \-------------------------  
> Scream at me: riddlepanda.tumblr.com


End file.
